


Clint Barton is half deaf and clueless, but good company

by Lexiliscious



Series: how the Avengers accidentally become a pack [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky bonds with Clint, Cuddling/Snuggling, Gen, M/M, Scent Marking, Steve makes Tony eat, chinese food and bonding, general cuddling and snuggling as is the tone of this series, lazy day around the tower, post-full moon recovery day, werewolf!Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 22:38:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8345452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexiliscious/pseuds/Lexiliscious
Summary: also known as: Clint thinks Steve is too loud in bed and keeps Bucky up at night
alternate title: Chinese Fixes Everything, A Novel by Clint Barton





	

           When Bucky wakes up, he’s back in his human form, naked, there’s a blanket thrown over him and a piece of paper stuck to his forehead. He wrinkles his nose distastefully at the feel of the paper stuck to him, and mutters incoherently as he reaches up to take it off. It’s two sticky notes stuck together. The one on top, bright red with a tiny outline of Iron Man’s helmet in gold in the corner, reads, ‘Steve says you should be up around noon. I’ll be there @ 1:00 to start on the soundproofing, so get your sensitive super soldier ears out before then. -Tony’. Bucky snorts at it, shaking his head, and pries it off the top of the second note, a plain yellow one. It reads, ‘Mornin’ Buck. I’m going to the meeting with Tony in case you forgot about that from last night. Call me when you get up, I won’t be back until after 4. Love, Steve.” It has a tiny drawing on the back of Bucky, shifted, crushing a tiny Steve under his weight. The little Steve appears to be sighing dramatically, but it’s got a bunch of little hearts illustrated around his head, too. He vaguely remembers something similar happening this morning when Steve got up to leave, except he wasn’t shifted anymore and he was a lot more whiney. Let it be known that James Barnes is not a morning person, and does _not_ like it when Steve, his personal teddy-bear-slash-space-heater, decides he needs to go somewhere before Bucky’s done sleeping. Steve’s got actual years of practice dealing with it though, so he usually just laughs at him, untangles himself, and cards his fingers through his hair until he falls back asleep. Which is exactly what had happened that morning, too.

           Bucky finds his phone sitting next to the couch, and swipes it up to check the time and see if he has any messages. It’s 11:34am, he’s got a couple texts from Steve updating him on what he’s doing, a selfie from Sam of Steve helping a little old lady across the street, and a couple of notifications from the pictures he’s shared on various social media outlets. He’s smart with them, makes sure that they don’t have anyone’s face in them and are mostly really aesthetically-driven, but his followers seem to like them, and he likes having the little archives of photos to look through when he gets bored. Besides, Sam has an Instagram, and it’s _hilarious_.

           Bucky is pretty sure that Steve is under the assumption that he doesn’t talk to anyone but him. He’s not necessarily _wrong_ , per se, but he’s not _right_ either. He’s not really close with Sam, at least, not yet. Anybody that can take care of Steve and be there for him when Bucky isn’t is alright in his books, though. He did hate him a little bit, at first, but since moving into the tower with the others, he’s noticed how genuinely happy Steve is to have another close friend, one that he made on his own, and, well. Bucky just can’t hate anyone or anything that makes Steve happy. As a result, Bucky has begrudgingly accepted him into his life, and he doesn’t dislike the guy. He’s snarky, and funny, and he seems to actually care about the people around him. Bucky’s seen him force Tony out of his lab for a meal and a nap, has seen him buy Bruce special imported tea and talk with him about the health benefits, seen him give Clint weird gag gifts and buy his dog pizza, and he’s seen the secret gifts he gives Natasha that never fail to make her crack a genuine smile. So, Sam? Bucky is good with Sam. They’re not quite friends, but he trusts him to have Steve’s back, which is more than he can say for most of the others.

           He has trust issues; sue him.

           Bucky snaps from his thoughts when his phone starts ringing in his hand. The screen now displays that it’s 11:46am, meaning he’s zoned out for over ten minutes again. It’s the therapist they insisted on him seeing. He sighs quietly. For all that he feels better from their sessions, he’s always exhausted—mentally and physically—after them. He answers and talks to her for a few minutes—confirms his next appointment date and time, assents that he’s doing well and hasn’t had any bad days yet. She’s a SHIELD therapist, so he wasn’t too hesitant telling her that he’s a werewolf. He talked it over at length with Steve first, of course, and Steve had gone and gotten a bunch of background checks on her and statistics and talked to some of her old patients, and decided he thought it was a good idea. She asks him how it went; he gives her a play-by-play. She’s satisfied with it, he thinks, or at least, she doesn’t tell him if she isn’t.

           It's 12:25 when he gets off the phone with her. He groans because that means he doesn’t have much time to shower, eat, and get ready to spend the day somewhere other than his own space. It makes him a little nervous, leaving his and Steve’s floor, especially if he has to go out in the city—he doesn’t, today—so he tries to avoid it as much as possible. He isn’t scared of hurting anyone, not really, he just… Would rather not risk it. His therapist told him it was normal, after not being part of real civilization for so long. It would come to him eventually, she said. He’s not totally sure he believes her, but he’s here, in Stark tower, so he’s at least made progress towards it.  

           He forces himself off the couch and to the shower a few minutes later. He brushes his teeth in the shower, for time’s sake, because he won’t get the chance to do it after Tony shows up and starts his construction. He’s just finished dressing, hair still up in a towel so it doesn’t drip all over the place, when the elevator dings and Tony strolls in with several Iron Man suits following behind him with tools and materials. They both pause, Bucky staring at Tony and Tony staring back, before Tony bursts into laughter.

           “What?” He asks with a frown.

           “Nothing, just—looking good, Barnes.” Tony snickers as he goes by, directing his robots. Bucky doesn’t miss the tiny flinch he makes when Bucky turns as he moves passed. He ignores that, though—if Tony is willing to ignore the awkwardness of the past, so is he. Instead, he looks down at himself. He’s wearing one of Steve’s white shirts, but his own pair of sweatpants that are covered in a pattern of tiny little Captain America shields. He bought them himself.

           “I’m not going anywhere.” He defends, crossing his arms uncomfortably. There was a time, ages ago, when he cared about his appearance more than “basic hygienic upkeep and clean laundry.” He still knows _how_ to dress and look good, but he doesn’t see the point since he stays in the tower all the time, and Steve has never seemed to mind the way he looks. “I was just going to sit in the common room and watch TV until you were done.”

           Tony hums and glances at him over his shoulder again, looking like he’s assessing him. “You’re not wearing socks.” He points out. Bucky looks down at his bare feet.

           “No?”

           “It gets really cold in the common room. You should wear socks.” Tony says, then goes over to the window to direct some more suits flying around outside. Bucky watches him with a frown for a second, then goes back to the bedroom and picks out a pair of fuzzy socks that look like they’ve never been worn. Steve never really did like things touching his feet. They’re simple, soft and black, and Bucky briefly wonders where he got them before he pulls them on, tosses the towel in the laundry basket, and trudges back out. Tony’s hard at work already, so Bucky makes his way down to the common room. He has Jarvis play some of the things on his list on the big TV, loud enough that he can hear it over the sound of Tony working away upstairs.

           Clint wanders in around 3 o’clock with bags of Chinese food. Bucky stares at him over the back of the couch, his stomach suddenly rumbling. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until he caught a whiff of the fresh food. “Uh,” Clint says smartly. “You want some?”

           Bucky eyes him suspiciously. For all the Clint seems like a nice guy, Bucky hasn’t really gotten a handle on him yet. He seems like a funny, happy guy, but Bucky knows better than most people what it’s like to hide your feelings behind false bravado. Clint gives him a strange look, then starts sitting everything out on the table. He doesn’t bother with utensils, just starts eating with chopsticks straight from the containers. “What’s all the racket?” He asks, leaning back in his chair and looking up at the ceiling.

           Bucky briefly entertains the thought of killing him right then. Instead, he glares at him. “Tony’s making our floor soundproof.” He answers. Clint chokes on his rice and Bucky smirks to himself.

           “Why do you guys need that?” Clint’s face is all red and ruddy from his coughing fit, and he’s wiping tears out of his eyes too. “Been planning your world domination too loud in there, worried the rest of us will hear you?”

           Bucky rolls his eyes. “No. Someone’s been keeping me up all night.”

           Clint frowns, uncomprehending. “I don’t know how soundproofing your floor is going to help with that.” Bucky blinks at him, but says nothing; he has no idea what he’s talking about now. “You know,” Clint goes on, making some vague gesture that makes absolutely no sense to Bucky. “I mean, making your floor soundproof isn’t going to make Steve any quieter…” Clint’s face is still red as he says it.

           Bucky stares at him, eyebrows raised towards his hairline. He stares at him for so long that Clint starts to fidget uncomfortably in his seat. “I don’t know if you think Steve snores like a monster, or brings people home and screws ‘em too loud, or screws _himself_ too loud, or somethin’, but you know I lived with him for years before the war, right?” Clint looks like he just realized it, actually. “Steve could probably sing his favorite church gospels directly into my ears the whole night and I’d still sleep through it. It’s _you_ , asshole. Whatever you do in the vents at night is _loud_.”

           Clint gapes openly at him as Bucky huffs his frustration out. He’s not as mad about it now that it’s getting fixed, but it’s a little frustrating for him to find out that Clint didn’t even know. “But I’m so quiet!” Clint defends.

           Bucky blinks at him. “Clint, you’re _half deaf_.”

           “…oh yeah.” Clint makes a face. “Sorry. Uh—Chinese?” He offers again, gesturing to the table. Bucky considers him for a second, then sighs.

           “Sure. Want to sit on the couch and watch this show with me? I think it’s called How To Get Away With Murder.”

           “ _Dude_.” Clint says, excited, grabbing as much food as he can and making his way over. “I’m on episode 4 and I’m hooked. What episode are you on?”

           “I just started the second one.” Bucky takes the container the Clint offers him—he knows it’s not poisoned, because Clint ate out of it not ten minutes ago. It’s full of sesame chicken and Bucky’s stomach appreciates it as soon as he starts eating.

           Steve comes home and joins them three episodes later, smiling softly when they both start updating him on the plot at the same time. There aren’t any leftovers for him to eat, but he doesn’t seem to mind, sitting on Bucky’s other side and watching the show with them even though he’s only got a vague overview of the plot. Bucky falls asleep on Steve somewhere around an episode and a half later.

           He wakes up when Steve picks him up. “Hey,” He says quietly. Bucky grins against his shoulder sleepily.

           “Hi.” He answers, rubbing his jaw against him. Steve chuckles at him.

           “You fell asleep a few hours ago. Clint just left so I figured we could go back up to our own floor now.” Steve explains, and Bucky realizes they’re already in the elevator. He nods. Steve’s shoulder is pretty comfortable, but he can’t beat their bed.

           The elevator door opens and shows Tony still hard at work, floorboards and ceiling tiles missing and scattered about, furniture rearranged. Tony blinks up at them blearily, as if confused by their appearance. “What’re you guys doing here?” Tony asks.

           “…we live here?” Steve answers, letting Bucky down onto his own two feet. Bucky rubs his eyes sleepily, looking around the room. He can’t really hear any difference right now, but he can hear Clint snoring softly upstairs, so it’s safe to say he’ll actually get a decent night’s sleep. Tony looks torn between kicking them out and going back to his project and making a hasty retreat.

           Bucky leans forward to see into the kitchen where the time is displayed on their microwave in glowing green letters: 02:42. “Tony, it’s two in the morning.” He grumbles, moving over to the scientist and taking the tool—who needs a wrench for this?—from him and sitting it on their recently-rearranged dining room table. Tony stares at him like he’s got two heads. “Go to bed.” Bucky instructs, then frowns. “Did you even eat anything today?”

           “No.” Jarvis answers helpfully, unprompted. Tony glares up at the ceiling.

           “Tony,” Steve says, frowning, sounding worried. “We talked about this. You’ve gotta take better care of yourself,” He sighs. “Let me make you something.” Then he disappears into the kitchen. Tony looks like he has no idea what just happened.

           “You should listen to Steve,” Bucky tells him, leaning against the couch.

           “I’m fine.” Tony answers stubbornly. He sways a little bit when he stands though, so Bucky raises an eyebrow at him and calls his bluff. He doesn’t step to help him—he doesn’t think Tony would let him, for one thing, and also isn’t sure that Tony wouldn’t think he was trying to kill him instead. “Okay, so I could eat. I guess.”

           “Good. Steve’s making grilled cheese.” Bucky snorts quietly when Tony’s eyes go wide and his stomach growls. He looks hungrier just thinking about it.

           “Make him a couple, Stevie. I’m gonna go on to bed.” He turns to head to their bedroom and then Tony pipes up,

           “You put on socks.” Like he doesn’t understand. Like Bucky is some piece of a puzzle he didn’t even know he was trying to solve.

           “Yeah, it was cold.” He answers with a shrug, heading to their room and closing the door. He listens to Tony and Steve talk quietly, listens to Tony begrudgingly accept the food and eat it in front of Steve, to, as Steve put it, “Make sure it doesn’t go cold and go to waste when you go downstairs and start another project and forget about it.”

           Steve comes to bed a few minutes after Tony’s left. He changes out of his jeans but doesn’t bother to pull on new clothes, just climbs into bed in his boxers and collapses face-first into his pillow. “Long day?” Bucky asks, slinging his warm arm around him. Steve grunts pitifully.

           “Talked to the vets with Sam and then I had to do a couple interviews and then I went to the children’s hospital.” Bucky kisses his shoulder sympathetically and nuzzles in closer to him. He knows that being around the sick kids makes Steve sad; he wanted to be a doctor, once upon a time, to help people like they helped him when he was little. Like Dr. Erskine, he told him once. He’s never going to have time to do that now, between being an Avenger and dealing with Bucky on full moons and everything else in his life. Even if he retired from being Captain America, he could never just be a doctor; someone would always want him for something. Bruce is proof of that.

           “You do a lot of good, sweetheart.” He rumbles quietly, nuzzling against him until Steve lifts up his arm and lets him shuffle underneath it. “Even if you can’t help ‘em the way you were, you give ‘em hope. Sometimes they need that more, y’know? Remember all the times I told you not to listen to the doctors, ‘cause you were gonna make it, even when they sent off for a priest and read you your last rites?” Steve nods, but doesn’t look at him. “Well, we’re here now, aren’t we?”

           Steve’s quiet for several minutes before he uses the arm around Bucky’s shoulders to pull him closer, shuffling around until he can hide his face against his neck. “I dunno what I did to deserve you, Buck.” He tells him quietly, but doesn’t sound or smell quite as sad.

           Bucky nuzzles against the top of his head, sticking his hair up in several different directions. “I ask myself the same thing about you every day.”

           Steve snorts quietly. “We turned into a couple of old saps, huh?”

           “Yep. We’re a pair of old rich dudes now. We’re the people we used to hate back in the 40s.”

           “ _God_.” Steve bemoans, laughing softly. Bucky joins him, and after a few minutes, they fall silent again. Bucky can still hear Clint upstairs, but that’s alright.

           “G’night, Buck.” Steve mutters sleepily at him.

           “Night, Stevie.” He rumbles back happily, already starting to fall back asleep himself. Quietly, he hopes he actually gets to sleep all the way through the night this time. With Steve starting to fall asleep peacefully next to him, his breaths and heartbeat evening out as he finally relaxes from his day, he doesn’t worry about it much.

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted you guys to know that originally, Tony wasn't in this part at all. 
> 
> Clint and Natasha are gonna be really important friendships for Bucky in this series, but I think my favorite ones are Bucky/Tony and Bucky/Thor. They're clearly not there yet, but, y'all, listen... It's coming, and I'm excited for it. The next installment will feature less explaining, another full moon, someone joining Bucky on the werewolf side of things, and a lot of stress eating. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this! Feel free to suggest things for this series; it has a projected end, but it's got a LOT happening before that at seemingly random intervals!


End file.
